friendlydacat

Calif has a 500 billion pension deficit. Some say trillions.

rob-2

The state is out of money as a direct result of gov't on all levels doubling in size. You can blame the housing bubble for quadrupling state revenue. They found a way to use it. Now they want to keep it.

kaansahbaz

those signs say minimum XXX amount! it can be up to anything

rydelow

The county in which you were issued the ticket also matters. Each county has their own fees. And depending on the judge and your driving record determines if the fines will be reduced or not

kaansahbaz

and 1 more question; have u had carpool violation be4???

Offtrack

shehatezme

Nope First one.

teg88

My red light violation ticket was $562 for not making a complete stop making a right at a red light even though the sign says 300 bucks for a violation

playground_the

hmmm

rudyr

Referendum A: Do you want the State to give away more stuff?

Referendum B: Do you want the State to increase taxes to pay for new stuff?

About 30 years of Yes on A, No on B voting...

Seriously though, I hear you. I can't fathom how sales tax, income tax, and all the regulatory fees are what they are and CA is still broke.

I'm at a point where every extra dollar I make is income taxed at just under 50% if you combine Federal and State, and that's only because of the recent tax extension. I think it'd be right at 50% had it not been passed. That does impact greatly my incentive to possibly invest in a side-business and maybe create a job or two. Seriously, why dig into my discretionary time and shift it from recreation to additional work if half of what it generates is going to someone else?

The same thing does for spending. The sales tax is so high I am a lot more likely to order online from Amazon than buy from a local store. A new car? Sorry, but CA charges sales tax on the price of the new car, not the difference between the new car minus the trade-in value. That's thousands of dollars that influence me to either not buy a new car or consider some way to avoid the tax (e.g. buying used from a private party who will mark the sale price low, register out of state, etc).

Bottom line, taxes in CA IMO have crossed the line to the point where they're more detrimental than they are useful. I constantly hear people saying now that they love CA, but are looking legitimately at lower COL states as an alternative, especially families with kids who don't want to have to drop $1 to $2 mil on a home (and at that price range, it's nothing fancy at all) just to get into Cupertino or Palo Alto public schools.